Some Black Celebs Can Learn From Chinese Millionaire, Street Cleaner Who Works To Be Role Model For Kids

Yu Youzhen (pictured), who hails from Wuhan City, China, is a millionaire who still manages to get up every day at 3 a.m. to hightail it to her job as a sanitation worker, where she spends six hours a day sweeping, picking up garbage, and going through trash cans six days a week. Why is this wealthy woman putting herself through such a grueling occupation for a monthly paycheck of 1,420 yuan a month? Youzhen wants her children to understand that the virtues of hard work as an essential part of life and know that being idle will lead to a wasteful lifestyle, reports South China Morning Post.

The 53-year-old middle-aged woman earned her fortune through — what else — hard work. Youzhen and her husband reportedly toiled from dawn until dusk as vegetable farmers in the ’80s in Donghu Village Huojiawan. They saved every dime they made and soon they were able to purchase a three-story home in their district.

The always-entrepreneurial Youzhen began renting rooms in her home. The monies from the rent allowed Youzhen and her husband to purchase even more properties, and soon they owned five three-story buildings with apartments for rent.

Today, Youzhen and her husband reportedly own 17 buildings that are valued at around $12 million.

But Youzhen wasn’t alone in her entrepreneurial thinking. Soon neighbors also began building homes as well, but there was one main difference: they weren’t disciplined with their money. Youzhen reportedly observed how their hard-earned fortunes disappeared through frivolous vices, such as big spending, gambling, drinking excessively, and recreational drug use.

Upon seeing how having money could easily lead one down a destructive path, Youzhen made the conscious decision to continue to work hard as a sanitation worker in order to set the bar for her children even after 14 years and millions of dollars later. “I want to set an example for my son and daughter, a person can’t just sit at home and ‘eat away’ a whole fortune,” Youzhen says.

The hard-working Mom is so serious about her work ethic that she has already given her children a warning: If they fail to maintain their jobs, she will stop financially supporting them, and even went on record to say, “If you [her children] don’t work, I’ll donate the apartments to the country!”

And Youzhen’s warnings have gotten through to her children; now her son works as a driver and her daughter is an office worker.

Clearly some of our own Black celebrities could use Youzhen as a role model: Former NBA baller Allen Iverson, who earned a reported $154 million during his playing career, plus $50 million more in endorsements, threw his money away on excessive jewelry and gambling. The NFL’s Vince Young blew $26 million in less than five years on ridiculousness, such as dropping $5,000 a week at the Cheesecake Factory.

And celeb-kid Arnelle Simpson (pictured), whose Dad is none other than former NFL-great O.J. Simpson, was reportedly read the riot actvia phone by her jailed father for squandering his $25,000-a-month pension. According to published reports, the 25-year-old woman spent her dad’s pension on clothing, alcohol, excessive entertaining, and attempted to lead the life of a jetsetter. Eventually, Arnelle failed to pay the mortgage on her father’s Florida home and now it is reportedly facing foreclosure.

It appears that Youzhen can make even more money by opening schools and teaching the newly rich to manage their money!

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